Why Netflix's Price Hike Might Make Me Cancel for Good

I'm a creature of habit. Seeing a $9.99 charge from "NETFLIX" debited from my checking account feels as normal to me as peanut butter & jelly for lunch, despite the fact that I probably only get about $7 of movies watched each month. But when I got an email yesterday about Netflix's new plans—and hiked up prices—I felt forced to make a change.

When I first signed up for Netflix in 2007, I definitely got my money's worth. With 3 DVDs out at a time, I rushed through the entire series of Alias and a few years' worth of previously un-watched summer blockbuster movies.

More recently, however, my movie watching has slowed. I'll bumble through a "this-could-be-good" streaming movie every once in awhile, but there's been an unopened Netflix envelope sitting on the counter for more than a month now. And still, I'd have been perfectly content paying the $9 per month bill and catching occasional Netflix pics forever.

But now, Netflix is switching up the game. They're separating the "unlimited streaming" plans from the "unlimited DVDs" plans. If you want to keep both, you'll have to pay for two plans. And yes, it's more expensive:

You almost get the feeling that Netflix knows they're losing customers. Maybe that's the point. They're trying to phase out the comparatively-cost-careless service of shipping out DVDs in favor of cost-efficient online streaming.

At best (in Netflix's case), I'll drop my mostly watched DVD plan and subscribe to an $7.99 streaming only deal. But I'm inclined to cancel the whole thing. Clicking in to the website to opt out (because Netflix is automatically switching its subscribers to equivalent, but more expensive, plans come September), I'm forced to admit that my few half-assed streaming views are probably not worth the $8.